This invention relates generally to coin analyzer devices and, in particular, to coin analyzer devices that are used in the control or operation of coin operating machines such as, for example, video games and other coin-operated games, car washes, clothes washers and dryers, and the like. More particularly, the invention relates to an electronic coin analyzer having a faceplate that is compact in configuration, particularly in the vertical dimension.
Coin analyzing devices, which have been developed for use with coin-operated machines, were initially primarily mechanical in nature. Each coin inserted into the device, either through a slot or by a moving push mechanism, was subjected to one or more tests based upon the size, weight, or magnetic properties of the coin. Such devices were often fooled into accepting slugs or coins of foreign currencies worth less than the intended currency. Additionally, such mechanical coin detectors were limited to accepting coins or tokens of a particular value but not more than one denomination coin or token. Another difficulty with known mechanical coin analyzing devices is the susceptibility of such devices to jamming as a result of moisture., debris, or the like on the coin as it traverses the coin path. This problem is especially acute in applications involving water, such as laundromats and car washes.
Electronic coin analyzers have been developed to overcome many of the limitations of the prior mechanical devices. For example, in my U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,884,672 and 5,056,644 entitled COIN ANALYZER SYSTEM AND APPARATUS, I disclose a coin analyzer system and apparatus that provides a detection circuit for comparing a tested coin with at least two different sample coins. In the event the tested coin does not match either sample, a rejection gate forces the tested .coin, which is in free-fall, out of the coin chute in a laterally normal direction and into a rejected coin chute. In the event that the test coin matches either of the sample coins or tokens, the rejecting gate is opened and a test coin drops through a substantially vertical accepted coin chute. One difficulty with replacing mechanical coin acceptor devices with electronic systems is that electronic systems, especially those capable of accepting more than one denomination coin, or a coin and a token, have not fit within the same faceplate dimensions of the devices they are intended to replace. Manufacturers of the coin-operated equipment are reluctant to modify the space allocated to the coin analyzer system because such modification would create a disparity between newly installed equipment and existing equipment in the field. Importantly, coin analyzer systems added to the newly installed coin-operated machines under such circumstances would not be useable with existing coin-operated machines in the field.
Accordingly, there is a need for an electronic coin analyzer system and apparatus that may be directly retrofitted to coin-operated machines having mechanical coin analyzer devices.